15th Australian Field Company

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Brief History

This unit was mobilised at Trawool in Victoria in December 1941 and was attached to the 15th Infantry Brigade Group, a part of the 3rd Infantry Division. In March and April 1942 they marched from Seymour to Bonegilla before moving to Casino in New South Wales during May. In October they moved to Caboolture in Queensland, and to the Atherton tablelands in December to build camps for the units returning from New Guinea. In February 1943 they moved south to Cooroy.

In March, with the 15th Brigade Group they moved to Port Moresby, and then one section continued on to Wau to join the 17th Brigade Group in the advance on Salamaua. Those left in Port Moresby worked on roads and other construction tasks. From July to November another section went with the 57/60th Infantry battalion to Tsili Tsili. Following the capture of Salamaua and Lae in September the unit concentrated at Port Moresby for a period of ret and retraining. In January 1944 the unit moved to Dampu in the Ramu Valley and they supported the advance on Bogadjim before moving to a base camp at Madang in May. In August they were relieved and returned to Australia, where after home leave they reassembled at Kapooka before moving to Tolga in Queensland to rejoin the 15th Brigade. Their next move was to Torokina on Bougainville in December to join the 3rd Infantry Division which was pushing south to the Japanese base at Buin. The 15th Field Company worked in Torokina before moving to forward areas where they supported the advance as well as maintaining the roads and bridges along the supply lines until the end of the war.

Unit Personnel

• Angus Sherwood James 23 Oct - 2 Dec 1945
• Frank Lindsay Cornish 23 Oct - 19 Dec 1945

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 3 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, pages 3.453 & 3.454 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018